JanF Posts

Today the motleymoose.com and the motleymoose.net web sites are as one. In early May, we were informed that the Soapblox blogging platform would be retired later this year. We built the motleymoose.net web site in WordPress and kept the old motleymoose.com site active to allow for an orderly transition.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Last December — more than 13 years after our nation was attacked by al Qaeda on 9/11 — America’s combat mission in Afghanistan came to a responsible end. That milestone was achieved thanks to the courage and the skill of our military, our intelligence, and civilian personnel. They served there with extraordinary skill and valor, and it’s worth remembering especially the more than 2,200 American patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.

The Department of Justice is now investigating the events that led to his death and today, President Obama offered his thoughts to the family and friends of Freddie Gray who are appropriately looking for answers while at the same time making clear there is "no excuse" for violence. He noted that events in Baltimore called attention to the urgent need throughout the country to build trust between communities and their police.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest-serving independent member of the U.S. Congress, will announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, Vermont Public Radio reported on Tuesday. He will release a short statement and hold a campaign kickoff event in subsequent weeks, the radio said, citing several sources. The senator's office did not respond to a request for comment.

On 25 March 1965, Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, where local African Americans, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had been campaigning for voting rights.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr spent a lifetime fighting for working people: for a recognition of the dignity of labor, demanding a living wage to lift all people out of poverty. His cause has become our cause in 2014 as Democrats are fighting for minimum wage increases and our president echoes the words of Dr. King: "... let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty."